Sales of hybrid cars in the US continued their downward trend in March as volume dropped 44 per cent year-on-year to just 21,433 units sold.
The performance was worse than the total light duty vehicle market, which posted a 36.8 per cent drop and gave hybrid cars a 2.5 per cent new vehicle market share – down from 2.82 per cent in March 2008. There was some cause for optimism however, as three new hybrids debuted in the form of the Honda Insight, the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan although they only came on sale towards the end of the month.
Here is how each manufacturer faired:
- Ford: The new Fusion and Milan hybrids sold a combined 451 units representing 3.0 per cent of the total sales of those models. The Escape and Mariner hybrids meanwhile sold a combined 1,351 units – down 32.7 per cent.
- General Motors: A total of 1,161 hybrids were sold during the month – 609 Tahoe, Yukon and Escalade two-mode SUVs; 68 Silverado and Sierra two-mode pick-ups; 362 Saturn VUE hybrids; 547 Malibu hybrids; and 26 Saturn Aura hybrids.
- Honda: The new Honda Insight debuted and sold 569 units while the Civic Hybrid posted 2,869 units down 23.9 per cent compared to the previous year.
- Lexus: Toyota’s luxury division posted 1,165 sales of its RX400h, a drop of 25.8 per cent. The GS450h sold 42 units, down 35.4 per cent, while the LS600h L sold just 25 units – down 78 per cent.
- Nissan: A total of 834 units of the Altima Hybrid were sold, a 0.2 per cent increase compared to March 2008.
- Toyota: Sales of the Prius dropped by 56.8 per cent down to 8,294 units. The Camry Hybrid posted 2,554 units a fall of 63.1 per cent; while the Highlander Hybrid sold 1,037 units down 53.7 per cent.
